Opinion | What Peshawar suicide blast signals about terrorism in Pakistan

Name: Police demand more protection and answers after deadly mosque bombing in Pakistan
Uploaded: 2023-02-02T16:00:12.000Z
Duration: 1 min 34 s
Description: Police demand more protection and answers after deadly mosque bombing in Pakistan

Pakistan’s deteriorating security situation is linked to a resurgent TTP and the increasing fragility in neighbouring Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover

Pakistan had supported the Afghan Taliban for years, but the relationship began to break down after the Afghan Taliban offered shelter to TTP fighters

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Police inspect the damage at a Mosque that was destroyed in a suicide bomb blast on January 30, in Peshawar, Pakistan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Zahid Shahab Ahmed

Published: 12:00am, 3 Feb 2023Updated: 2:45am, 3 Feb 2023

Earlier this week, a suicide blast ruptured the relative calm that had returned to Pakistan in recent years. The attack at a mosque in the northwestern city of Peshawar killed more than 100 people and stunned many Pakistanis who thought the days of such horrific suicide bombings were long behind them.

While Monday’s attack was among the worst in the country in a decade, the blast does not necessarily signal a return of terrorism so much as an escalation of a problem that never really went away.

The Pakistan Taliban, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), denied responsibility for Monday’s blast. Instead, a TTP faction, Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claimed to be behind it.

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Police demand more protection and answers after deadly mosque bombing in Pakistan

But in many ways, Pakistan’s deteriorating security situation is directly linked to a resurgent TTP and the increasing fragility in neighbouring Afghanistan since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021.

The Pakistani government had supported the Afghan Taliban for years, but the relationship began to break down after the Afghan Taliban offered shelter to TTP fighters and released thousands of terrorists from prison after taking power.

The TTP not only appeared to be strengthened and energised by the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, it also drew closer to the group.

Last year, the Afghan Taliban facilitated dialogue between the Pakistani government and the TTP that led to a ceasefire deal. But by November, the TTP ended the five-month truce, claiming the government had not complied with all its requests, most notably the freeing of important TTP members.

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